The grants were handed over to the winning teams in a prize-giving ceremony held in the Dhaka offices of Selise on Monday, according to a press release.
Vertical Innovations Ltd, which pitched an innovative solution for delivering smart hygiene product vending machines through B2B distribution, won the first prize securing a grant of Tk1,649,725.
The other two teams, Shafa Care Ltd and Dhaka Doctor, also won grants of Tk471,350 and Tk235,675, respectively.
Earlier, the winner was announced via a Facebook post on SIMcubator’s official Facebook page on April 25.
The top three participants were selected out of eight teams who participated in a three-day long Bootcamp, titled “SIMcubator Bootcamp 2022”, held in February this year.
Out of the eight teams, the top three were selected to participate in a mentorship program.
Throughout the mentorship program – which took place over the course of a few months – the top three participants were paired with mentors fit for their business needs and guided towards a Pitch Day, held on April 24, when all of them presented their solutions in front of a jury.
The jury decided the ranking based on the teams’ overall performance.
In the meantime, the teams have already started expanding their businesses with investments received from local and international investors they got acquainted with during the program.
Some of the investors who were present on the final pitch day include NABIC, Startup Bangladesh, SBK Tech Ventures, Roche People, LightCastle Partners and Maslin Capital BD.
SIMcubator empowers, mentors, and funds local impact entrepreneurs in Rwanda and Bangladesh to enable regional development.
Through the Bootcamp and incubation program, SIMcubator provides start-ups access to knowledge, network, and capital.
This year, SIMcubator started with fifty start-ups participating in the program, where eight start-ups made it to the Bootcamp round.
From there, the best three start-ups participated in the incubation program.
Besides the main sponsors and organizers, HP, University of St. Gallen, and Selise, SIMcubator Bangladesh was conducted in partnership with Moar, Bangladesh Angels, and Nestle Bangladesh.
